SCDigginWithAK wrote:
> What were they used for?
As Creskol said, the SPECIFIC form of "twist-catch" you found the bottom piece of was and still is used on all sorts of things. Four examples that I've personally seen:
1- A Volkswagen pickup truck bed-cover tarp, which I owned.
2- My high-school backpack had a twist-catch for keeping the main cover-flap at its top closed.
3- My wife's purse has one for keeping its main flap closed.
4- Some 20th-Century US Army packs and belt-pouches have the form of twist-catch you found.
I should mention, for any diggers here who don't already know:
That specific form of twist-catch (the turning part fits through a flat metal oval or ring which is attached to cloth or leather) seems to date as far back as the latter-1800s, but not to the civil war.
However, there is a different version of twist-catch (or "turn-catch") which does date back to the civil war. It is found on at least one type of epaulette (shoulder-scales). The turning part fits through a slot in the epaulette's body. See photos below.